By By Marianne Todd/The Meridian Star
Dec. 28, 2000
A Lauderdale County grand jury has indicted a Meridian man for the statutory rape of a 3-year-old girl.
The indictment charges Harland Craig Renfrow, 39, raped the girl on June 10 using a foreign object. The child was transported to University Medical Center in Jackson shortly after the attack, and has undergone two surgeries since that time.
Lauderdale County investigators learned of the attack after emergency room personnel at Riley Hospital reported the incident.
Renfrow was charged on June 13. He was segregated from the general population at the Lauderdale County Detention Facility after another inmate, Michael Dock, allegedly threw a cooler at him, striking his head. Renfrow's injury required stitches.
He has been segregated from the jail's population since that time, said Jail Administrator Maj. Doris Callahan.
Renfrow, who has been denied bond, is scheduled for trial Feb. 5.
Meanwhile, a Meridian man accused of the Aug. 22 shooting death of a teen-ager will face trial after a grand jury returned an indictment against him for murder.
Willie A. Parnell, 43, of Highway Village Apartments, is accused in the murder of Thomas Anderson of 1612 22nd Ave.
Meridian police investigators said a fight between the two men that began the day before escalated into the shooting. Anderson was pronounced dead at Riley Hospital 30 minutes after being shot in the chest.
Parnell's trial date is set for Feb. 2. He remains in custody at the Lauderdale County Detention Facility on $50,000 bond.
Marianne Todd is a staff writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail her at mtodd@themeridianstar.com.